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Oklahoma’s Five State Questions

Oklahomans will be voting on five state questions in a couple of weeks. Here are the questions and my take on each.

State Question 793 – Right of Optometrists and Opticians to Practice in Retail Establishments Initiative

This measure adds a new Section 3 to Article 20 of the Oklahoma Constitution. Under the new Section, no law shall infringe on optometrists’ or opticians’ ability to practice within a retail mercantile establishment, discriminate against optometrists or opticians based on the location of their practice, or require external entrances for optometric offices within retail mercantile establishments. No law shall infringe on retail mercantile establishments’ ability to sell prescription optical goods and services. The Section allows the Legislature to restrict optometrists from performing surgeries within retail mercantile establishments, limit the number of locations at which an optometrist may practice, maintain optometric licensing requirements, require optometric offices to be in a separate room of a retail mercantile establishment, and impose health and safety standards. […] → Keep reading

Oklahoma Liberals: Bloat Is Good as Long as It’s Our Bloat

One of the more contentious issues in Oklahoma politics has always been funding for education and this year is certainly no exception. And by ‘funding’ I do mean teacher salaries. There seems to be more of a clamor this year for teachers to get raises and even some Republicans have introduced legislation aimed at providing salary increases to teachers without raising taxes. It’s too early in the legislative session to know how those proposals will turn out, but even if they are passed and succeed, it won’t be enough to satisfy those in the education field and their friends in the legislature, the Democrats.

Education funding seems to be a continual battle between the liberals and the conservatives in the legislature, with the liberals always wanting more and more money to go to education and the conservatives knowing that the state can’t afford the level of funding that the liberals want. Back in 2010, the teachers union was successful in […] → Keep reading